Where is the Respect?

Got an email this morning from my dad in reference to another killed Tiger Shark - presumably in The Bahamas. A lot of attention is given to Shark Week, Dive Operators (being eco-conscious), Shark Porn, cage diving or not, shark hugging policies, who was part of what production, etc. But who is actually protecting sharks, who is responsible for protecting sharks, and why is it still legal to kill a shark for pure pleasure and fun to get a picture with your friends (likely drunk).

People that deal with the Ocean, either livelihood or pleasure, need to learn to respect it a lot more...and countries that have these treasures need to protect them...

Class act - Notice Shotgun and Beer

14-Foot Tiger Shark Reeled In Off Key Biscayne

So the good news does not last long at all...Mark "The Shark" Quartiano has done it again. This time he killed a 14-ft Tiger shark right off Key Biscayne. Don't really have much to say - it is becoming exhausting writing about the same bullshit over and over again...I tried to contact Mark last year to meet and talk about year of the shark, etc. - while he did respond it did not lead to anything...interested in any ideas on how to change this guys perception and attitude toward sharks.

"South Florida boat captain Mark "The Shark" Quartiano, a captain who has fished off Miami Beach for more than 30 years, has reeled in a whopper of a shark.

On board his charter boat, Striker-1, Quartiano caught a 1,200 pound, 14-foot long Tiger Shark Tuesday morning. The shark was caught in about 30-feet of water just off Key Biscayne.

He says it's the biggest Tiger Shark he has seen in all of his years of fishing off the South Florida coast."

Here is a video: http://cbs4.com/video/?id=76714@wfor.dayport.com

I believe this is at The Biscayne Bay Marriott Marina - maybe they should become a shark free marina?

Tiger Shark debates continues

David over at Southern Fried Science has a new post on the Tiger Shark killing by Craig Clasen (David - for your entertainment only "murderer").  David's posts always create some interesting and intense debates / conversations - I am sure this one will be no different.  He is also a contributing blogger on Underwater Thrills: Swimming with Sharks.

David is (from his blog description): "a graduate student in South Carolina studying shark conservation. He is the author of the upcoming book “Why Sharks Matter: Using New Environmentalism to Show The Economic And Ecological Importance of Sharks, The Threats They Face, and How You Can Help”.  He is  also an amateur shark photographer and videographer, and is involved with online shark advocacy. His time is divided between educating the public about sharks, spending days at a time at sea playing with sharks, and eating horribly unhealthy foods.

In addition to sharks, he writes about fisheries issues, marine conservation, environmental activism, politics as applied to science, and space technology. He also knows quite a bit about the scientific applications of Google Earth software."

Hope you can tune in...

Diver grapples (Murders) with 12ft tiger shark

Overkill - three spears visible and stabbing a Tiger Shark - Spearo Craig Clasen

There are two type of spearos, the good and the bad.  Let's start with the good: environmentally (specifically the ocean) conscious, respectful, harmonious, humble, smart, and above all an incredible love for the ocean and ALL its creatures.   They have no fear of sharks...

Then there are the bad: show off, consider sharks either a nuisance or a scared of them, spear for the photo or coverage, have no respect towards the ocean, pillage it as they please...

Craig Clasen and Ryan McInnis (and the others present) are bad spearos.  Given a choice to kill or let live a large tiger shark (that supposedly put them in a life or death situation) they decided to kill it...a process that took over two hours and various spears, stabbing, and drowning...a slow and painful death...it is obvious from their photos and quotes that these guys were very afraid of sharks.  In the video you will notice that shark approaches the cameraman in a non-aggressive, but curious manner.  

From one of Ryan's webisodes on his site he mentions "Come face to face with a 12’ Tiger Shark that snuck up on me this summer in Louisiana, clean out your wetsuit" - in the episode Ryan also mentions that "he saw the last thing a freediver ever wants to see" referring to the Tiger Shark... 

Craig looks pretty happy here with Tiger Sharks tail and jaws - no remorse as he stated

And if you truly respect sharks, as they say they did, they would have never let this get out to the media...they were looking for their 15mins of fame, media coverage, money and status among the spearo community...they have done the opposite, not only giving spearos around the world a negative image, but more importantly the chance for the media to take a stab at sharks once again.

I am sure you will see another post on this very soon from my old man - he is on way to South Africa at the moment.